These Guys are Good!!!

Once again, the competitors from Elite Instinct traveled to Santa Cruz for the US Open XV Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament, October 15-17, 2010. Eleven members of the team competed and brought back SEVEN medals!! Can you imagine? Ultra heavy weight white belts Jordan Taghavi, John Thurston, and Matt Zonfrello dominated their division, and took home 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. And Laura Bradford also got the gold in her division.
This is an amazing team that works hard, practices almost every day of the week, and is intent on perfecting the intricate skills and moves of BJJ. They have had a great trainer, Brazilian black belt, Mauro Ayres. Owner and trainer, Michael Quigley, a blue belt, is coaching now.
They are right back at work, preparing for the next tournament. Congratulations to all of you!

Annalisa Returns (or, My Garden Elf)

"Blow me a kiss, Annalisa!"


I had so much fun photographing Annalisa. You might recall my "Annalisa Ballerina" blog last spring. Annalisa is a year old now and she still has the most amazing repertoire of expressions! She is a photographer's delight! Luckily, she lives way up north, so I can't pester her too much. (but i really wish she lived across the street).

Here are some of the many faces of Annalisa:




"What to do with all these weeds!"

The Twins

As you can see, I haven't blogged for quite a long time! Happy New Year to all!
But I couldn't pass this up...we just got back from photographing and frolicking with two of the cutest little one year olds! I'm so glad we got to meet them and their mommy and daddy today.
We headed out to the arboretum, despite the cold, overcast day, and we found plenty of leaves and trees and benches to use as props. And...we found the ducks! Both kids had fun herding the ducks. The ducks were not afraid of two little toddlers and let them get very close to them.